In this chapter, the main findings of the study related to the research questions are presented. A section is dedicated to each of the three research questions raised in Chapter 1. At the end of the chapter is a discussion on how the findings relate to the relevant literature. See Table 4.1. below for a summary of the main research findings.
Table 4.1.
Opportunity for growth and development
Other Factors
Changes in Value and Attitude towards Work
Reflection on Career so Far: Less Detours 2. How does the TCK
experience help or hinder TCKs in adapting to their workplace?
Adaptability and Confidence
Sense of Responsibility and Trustworthiness
A Broadened Perspective
Functioning as a Bridge between People and Cultures
Access to More Resources and Development of Multiple Interests
Letting Go of the Past and Engaging in the Present
Reaching Out to Others
Observation Skills
The Patience to Allow Others to Express Themselves
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Career Choices: Process and Factors
This section of chapter four addresses the first research question concerning the process that TCKs go through when making their career choices and the factors that they take into consideration during this process. The section also gives a brief report on the shifts in values and attitudes towards work as the participants mature in their work life and experience changing seasons in their personal lives.
The Job Search
For the TCKs interviewed in this study, they found their jobs through job banks such as 104, college career centers, job fairs, head-hunters, and opportunities brought to their attention by family and friends. Their job search experiences were subject to the labor market and economic conditions at large. Chance also played a role as well in their job search.
A few of the TCKs mentioned that their first jobs were sometimes chosen out of necessity rather than fit, often settling on the first reasonable job offer, without too much deliberation on job match. These jobs are normally temporary positions before they move on to more suitable and permanent jobs. For others, their first jobs were opportunities that came up unexpectedly and they decided to try them out.
When searching and interviewing for jobs, the majority of TCKs felt that their experiences and their multilingual language abilities were highly esteemed and were beneficial in helping them stand out from among the crowd. This is particularly true for TCKs with little work experience. Cecilia says, “…When you do not have much work experiences, they [employers] focus on your language ability…” Many felt that their English abilities were in high demand, especially in Taiwan. So for many of the TCKs interviewed, they felt that their language abilities and cross-cultural experiences were additional bonuses to their other qualifications when looking for a job and gave them a distinctive edge over their non-TCK peers (ie. Cecilia, Keith, Beth, Eddie, and Natalie).
On the other hand, a few TCKs mentioned that their TCK experiences sometimes seemed more like a limitation because for some, they were non-natives in the country and lacked work visas. Some felt lacking in the general knowledge of the country, or country-specific industry knowledge for the jobs they wanted to work for; still others felt
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somewhat limited by their mediocre language ability in the country they wished to work in. The sense that they do not have sufficient knowledge about the country or adequate local language proficiency may be perceived or may in fact be true. Regardless of whether it is real or only feared, it does affect their self-perception, and it does sometimes discourage them from seeking out the jobs they desire. When asked about what she would want to do in her job if there were no restrictions, Beth replied, “I would want to be a manager. Yes, I would like to be leading people…but I just don’t have good enough Chinese”. Due to some of these reasons, a few TCKs in the study feel that their choices were more limited than their non-TCK counterparts.
While having to choose between cultures or countries to work in is usually an optional choice for non-TCKs, for TCKs, it is usually one of the first decisions that they have to make with great ramifications to all the consequent decisions. Often, this decision of where to work geographically can be a difficult choice for a TCK. In the case of Stanley, having only lived in his passport country, Taiwan, for four years, when it came time to make career choices, he felt that Taiwan was not a viable option for him.
To work in Taiwan, he would first have to complete the obligatory military service, and he felt that he would not be able to fit into the local culture well enough to do that:
I don't feel like I would have fit in well with the men in Taiwan. I feel that in terms of language, I would not fit in; the culture, I would not have fit in…. It would've been not a great experience for me.
So Stanley opted to stay in the U.S., but that was not an easy option either and it reminded him that he did not quite belong in the U.S. either:
I had to work hard to get my green card. It's not like it’s a walk in the park to stay. That's maybe why I don't really feel like United States is my home is that I had to work hard to stay here.
For those who think that TCKs have many opportunities to work in different places around the world, Mitchell, who has lived in five different countries and speaks three languages, argues that:
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In reality, I don't think there are that many choices because unless your expertise [is needed]
and you know the local language really well…Then my choice would be only work in Italy, or work in English-speaking countries…. And plus, you know, Italy, unemployment rate of their youth here in central or south Italy, it's like almost 50%.
Despite having lived in multiple countries, often, the option to stay and work in these countries is not available for these TCKs.
Factors Considered and Valued
When deciding on a job offer or evaluating current and past posts, the participants do have certain considerations and value different things about their jobs. Some of these factors are presented below.
Autonomy.
Quite a few of the TCKs in the study have mentioned autonomy as something they value. They enjoy freedom on the job, like having the flexibility to dictate their schedule and plan their work.
Patricia, who was trained through her TCK experiences, family upbringing and her first job, to be an independent thinker and worker, is satisfied with her current job in a media company and cites the freedom she has as the reason she enjoys it so:
I'm very happy. Basically you're given free reign….They don’t ask you, “What are you doing everyday?”….For me, it's so easy. I don't have to explain myself. I don't have to say where I'm coming from and why I'm doing that. That's why I'm so happy, I think.
Speaking about one of her jobs where it was a one-person office, Daphne said, “I thought the job was just perfect for working on one’s own. I could arrange to use my time in my own way; I could arrange the work in my own way…”
Eddie shared what he enjoys most about his current work by saying, “What I loved most about this job is that for the first time, I can manage an entire department.” He considers the possibility of opening his own business a few years down the line and he says this about being the boss, “I think it goes back to the beginning when I said I still feel I can change the world, and I think I can make the most impact when I am the boss.”
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Iris also stresses how much she loves the freedom and autonomy in her teaching job:
…something that I really enjoy even now is the fact that I have complete autonomy. I’ve always been in a one-person program….I get to decide how I want to teach my classes, no one tells me what to do.
In her current job as an educational consultant, she again emphasizes how much she appreciates her freedom, “I think the thing about my job now is that I get to decide…when to meet with this client, when to do what…as long as I meet the deadlines.
So this is what I really like.”
Many participants are comfortable with working autonomously. In fact, they prefer not to have others dictate their schedule and work methods.
Who they work with.
Another commonly-mentioned job factor that the TCKs interviewed consider is the people that they work with, both colleagues and managers. They believe that it is crucial to work in an environment where people have a sense of acceptance and understanding for their strengths and weaknesses and are willing to work with them and to mentor them.
Henri, when giving advice about what other TCKs should do when looking for their jobs, places utmost importance on the people that one works with, even beyond the job content itself. He says, “…I suppose in the end it really doesn't matter what you do at work, it's who you work with; I think that's really important.”
Stanley describes the search for his first job and explained what swayed his decision to choose the company:
The reason why I chose them [the company] was because they were quite nice during the interview. And they invited me further to visit their company. That to me was a good indicator of whether I would be taken care of.
From the start, Stanley believed that good work relationships would help to develop his career. Stanley gave advice to other TCKs looking for their first jobs by sharing the same guideline that he himself followed in his own job search:
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Always look at the person you're going to be working under. You want to find someone who's willing to mentor you and grow your career, somebody wants to invest in you rather than just use you as another employee.
When asked the same question about advice that he would give to TCKs like himself, Adam says to look for places where people accept, understand, and welcome the fact that TCKs bring different perspectives to the table because “…this way, your time there will go smoother….if the boss cannot accept you, you’ll not be able to be effective in your job, and it’ll be difficult for you to develop.” Adam worked for two and a half years at a local high-tech company where the organization did not have other people who were like him, and did not allow him to bring his TCK experiences and strengths into the work.
When comparing her former job with her current job, Cecilia says that she sees the difference in the work atmosphere created by different groups of people:
For example, with my former colleagues and my former boss, it really is teamwork and you really feel like it’s a partnership….I believe that your surrounding environment and the people you work with in a job is really key….
And again, being surrounded by people who are accepting of individual differences made the work so much easier.
…when you come across a supervisor that you can trust, one who can see your strengths and at the same time, accept your shortcomings, I believe that’s really important.
There is high priority placed on the people that they work with. Many of the same TCKs who are used to independence and crave for autonomy do not wish to work in a vacuum. They care deeply about who is around them and who they work with.
Variety.
Many TCKs speak of having variety within their work almost as a necessity. Some seem to have strong aversion towards monotony and repetition.
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…Another important reason that I stayed so long on the job is that it is constantly evolving….I really fear boredom….If you ask me to keep doing the same thing for a long period of time, I would not be able to do it. (Lionel)
I wanna do something new every time. I just don't like doing repetitive work... (Jasper)
…I get frustrated with work when it’s something I've done before. I know I can do [it]
better, but one of the reasons I want to switch jobs is because I want to learn something I haven’t learned before. (Eddie)
When asked about his favorite part of the job, Francis says:
I guess just the opportunity to explore across functions. I could be with dealing with things on the production side or the sales side or supporting side, the administration, logistics….I'm all across the spectrum…
These TCKs enjoy work that encompass a wide variety of functions and use an array of skills. They like jobs that allow them to see different things and have new experiences.
Opportunity for growth and development.
The desire to be in a career that not only has variety in content, but where they can continually better themselves by learning and growing is a top priority for many participants. Ursula, a researcher whose job content includes field projects and scientific investigations, speaks of her pursuit of work that allow for personal development and growth at this stage in her life:
For me, the most important aspect is self-development. I'm attracted to opportunities that will offer me the possibility to develop myself, and the possibility to work with interesting groups of people or colleagues, opportunities to open my eyes to different part of the world.
Ursula says that this type of project-based work is probably specific to this season in her life, where she feels like she is still relatively young and can afford to live a life that permits more instability. She says that her current choice of work is quite labor-intensive and is probably not something that she can continue to do for the remainder of her career
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life. So she takes the opportunity now to work and travel in different parts of the world before she has to settle down into a more stable job.
Natalie speaks of how her job gradually became easier as she got more experienced.
While that familiarity was assuring, at the same time, she felt like she had hit a ceiling in her learning. The inability to learn more from her job eventually became a source of frustration and dissatisfaction. Natalie said, “….But I think it also became a source of discouragement because it wasn't gratifying anymore. I mean it paid well, but I couldn't learn more from it by the end of my two years there.”
Patricia shares an incident in her former job when she requested to learn to handle the local Taiwanese tax system as she was newly transferred to Taiwan from the United States. When her manager denied her the opportunity to learn new things and insisted that she work with something she was already familiar with and very good at, she was incredulous about the manager’s attitude and was deeply upset by how the work environment was so opposed to learning. In her own words she said this about the work that the manager had insisted her on doing:
I already know how to do this. Why should I keep doing what I already know how to do? I want to learn something I can’t do yet.…I don't think this environment is fostering growth.…That [the stifling environment ] was the reason I left. (Patricia)
Others TCKs have gotten to a place where they are getting too comfortable and are not able to learn as much. They decide to move on in search of an environment where they are pushed to grow more. Although Jasper admits that he is not naturally a competitive person, nor does he like to be in a competitive environment, he explains his recent choice to quit his job at an older, more established architecture firm where he has already worked for six years for a less stable, and a lower paid job at a newer and highly competitive firm:
I wanted to be in a competitive firm. Because the last job I'm like... I don't need to prove myself anymore. And then I mean I just go to work and do the work that I have to do, I sort of laid back and pretty easy almost most of my time. But this new job I'll be learning something new and I'll be like... I need to show them what I got. (Jasper)
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Many TCKs have high expectations to continually learn and grow in their careers.
When jobs do not offer the conditions development, despite high pay and ease, TCKs can quickly grow to feel hampered and dissatisfied.
Other factors.
The other considerations for the participants include whether or not the job has to do with their area of study, interests, job security (ie. Keith, Henri), prestige of the organization (ie. Patricia), being able to personally contribute to the job, meaningfulness of the job is also important (ie. Oscar, Adam, Lionel, Cecilia, Mitchell). Pay (ie. Francis, Jasper, Lionel), geographic locations (ie. Francis), and family input (ie. Ursula) were also important. Some TCKs give priority to jobs that allow them more opportunity to travel, to use their language skills, and to work with diverse groups of people, or with people of similar background (ie. Rita, Francis, Cecilia, Keith).
Changes in Value and Attitude towards Work
As they gain more experience on the job, encounter different events, or journey into a new season in their life, TCKs’ values and attitudes toward work may sometimes change and they may give more prominence to factors previously not considered. In their first jobs, there may also have been more of the chance factor at play. Necessity, inexperience, and the desire to try new things may have resulted in a looser set of criteria for the first jobs.
In this research, the average age of the TCKs interviewed is 30.7 years old. Many have gone through a few jobs already. As they move between jobs, their rationales, needs, and considerations also evolve as they travel through different seasons in their lives.
They mention that shifts in their values and mentality towards work resulted as these events took place in their lives. A few of the interviewees spoke of the difference in their attitudes toward work before and after conversion to the Christian faith. Cecilia, who became a Christian about two years ago, noticed a big change in herself concerning her perspective on work. Before she accepted Christ and learned about God, Cecilia placed a lot of emphasis on her work, relishing the sense of accomplishment that it brought for her.
She worked really hard at her job because:
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Through work, I tried to make up for the lackluster performance in school….Your value comes from your status at work, so achievement from work is very important; it defines the success of your life. That was my attitude then [before knowing God]…
But her attitude towards work slowly changed after becoming a Christian. She says that
But her attitude towards work slowly changed after becoming a Christian. She says that